Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (May 13/02) - The Nunavut government's plan to overhaul its education act is getting a rough ride -- and the legislation hasn't even reached the public hearing stage.

Kathy Smith, chair of the DEA in Iqaluit, says she's repeatedly asked the department for specific information about the changes.

Among the reforms are new mandatory attendance ages, a transfer of powers away from communities and new approaches to individualized learning programs.

"The department made these changes and had reasons for making these changes," she said. "But we were never given that information -- a list of what the changes are, why they were made and what the implications are."

The Iqaluit DEA spent hours comparing the current act with the proposed act, trying to pinpoint significant changes. "It's quite a process, reading line by line through hundreds of pages of legal talk," she said. "We came up with a few things that concern us."

Smith said she believes the act, among other things, strips power from DEAs. When the government dissolved regional education boards, it led the DEAs to believe communities would have more power.

"We were concerned that we would have enough support to carry out the new duties," said Smith. "Now we're finding out there are no duties."

Philip Paneak, chair of the DEA in Pond Inlet, agrees. "It gives too much power to the minister," he said. "They're taking a step backwards.

Smith said the DEA is now responsible for monitoring and evaluating all school programs. But in the new act, "we only evaluate local programs, cultural programs," she said.

"Another thing -- right now the DEA controls or monitors what community activities take place in the school after hours," she said.

The new act gives that authority to the minister.

Peer group vs age group

The Iqaluit DEA's letter to parents also flags other issues. Currently, children have the right to be educated with their peer group. The new act changes that to age group. Smith said she fears children will be grouped by age, even if they can't keep up.

In addition, according to the current act, all children between six and 16 must attend school. Under the new act, five-year-olds must attend and stay until they are 18.

"This eliminates the parents' option of keeping a child at home if they believe their child isn't ready for school," Smith said. It will also be difficult for parents chose children no longer live at home, she added.

Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo also has problems with the new act. He said students who find classes too easy or too hard now can have individual lesson plans drawn up. The new act still gives over-challenged students the right to individual plans, but says nothing about under-challenged students.

"Those are kids we need to be addressing as well," said Tootoo. "That's taking away an opportunity for those kids to achieve more. It's like, 'Sorry you won't get a chance, you have to be average.' "

Tootoo said he is upset with a change that requires DEA membership be representative of the population.

"These are community-elected people," he said. "Are they telling the community how many of what kind of people they should have on a body they elect for themselves?" he said. "The community should be left alone to decide what it wants."

Tootoo said the changes also take away parents' choice about what languages their children learn. Under the proposed act, the minister consults with DEAs to decide the language of instruction in a community. If it's Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun, students must learn English and vice versa.

"If we can afford it, if there's money left over and if there's time in your day, you can take a third language," said Tootoo. "They should have a choice and right now, choices are limited."

Both Smith and Tootoo object to the absence of a French-Inuktitut choice.

Smith called introducing more Inuktitut "a great goal" but said it must be introduced slowly, starting with kindergarten.

Before the bill is passed, a committee of MLAs will review it and conduct community consultations in the fall and early winter.

"I hope (the committee) is provided with the information to tell people what the changes are," said Tootoo, who has a list of changes he wants made. "How come they don't want to tell us what the changes are? That just raises red flags for me."

Kilabuk disputes criticisms

Education Minister Peter Kilabuk defended the department's efforts to develop a new act, saying it isn't "simply a cut and edit of the old act."

Kilabuk said the department will not move students forward if they aren't ready just to keep them in their "age group." There are limits, however. A 16-year-old should not be in an elementary school, he said.

Kilabuk also denied the act strips power from DEAs. While it provides authority for the minister to set policies, DEAs will still decide who uses the school after hours.

As for the new attendance requirements, he said, he said a joint working group felt it was important to ensure every child receives an early start in school.

"Similarly, the working group believes that all students should have the opportunity to graduate from high school ... setting the mandatory age at 18 sends a strong message to parents and youth regarding the importance of school." Kilabuk said individual education plans will be developed for struggling students, while underchallenged students will receive "program modifications."

Students can study French as a third language and the Inuktitut program will be implemented over the next 10 years "as resources and opportunities become available."

The minister said the department did send updates to DEAs, including a list of changes.

Kathy Smith, however, said that information isn't specific enough. "We're not understanding what the changes mean in the day to day life of the school. We want very specific information, not an overview."